Global Courant 2023-04-28 03:32:33
Mike Pence was subpoenaed to testify about the events leading up to the 2021 Capitol bombing, led by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence has testified before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, a person who said is aware of the matter to The Associated Press.
The individual requested anonymity to discuss the private appearance before the grand jury.
Pence’s performance in Washington, D.C. – where he took a closer look at the president he once faithfully served – is a landmark in the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation.
It likely gives prosecutors an important first-person account of certain conversations and events in the weeks leading up to the deadly U.S. Capitol uprising on Jan. 6, 2021. It also has significant political implications, as Pence alludes to entering the 2024 presidential race with a possible run against Trump, the Republican frontrunner.
The testimony came hours after a federal appeals court rejected a bid by Trump’s lawyers to block Pence’s appearance in a sealed injunction.
Pence was subpoenaed to testify earlier this year, but Trump’s lawyers objected, citing concerns about executive privileges.
Pence’s attorneys had issued their own, more limited challenge.
They argued that because Pence served in his capacity as President of the Senate while electoral votes were counted in Congress, he was protected from being forced to testify about that process. The lawyers cited the “speech or debate” clause of the US Constitution, which is designed to protect members of Congress from questioning over official legislative acts.
A judge in March declined to block Pence’s action, though he did support the former vice president’s constitutional claims that he could not be compelled to answer questions about anything related to his role as chairman of the certification body. the Senate vote on January 6.
“We will obey the law, we will tell the truth,” Pence said in an interview with the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” which aired Sunday. “And the story I’ve told the American people across the country, the story I’ve written in the pages of my memoir, that will be the story I tell in that setting.”
Pence has spoken at length about Trump’s pressure campaign, urging him to dismiss Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including in his book So Help Me God.
Pence, as vice president, had a ceremonial role in overseeing Congress’ tally of the Electoral College votes, but he had no power to influence the results, despite Trump’s claim to the contrary.
Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, has said Trump endangered his family and everyone else who was in the Capitol that day and that history will hold him “responsible.”
“We had a close working relationship for four years. It didn’t end well,” Pence wrote of their time in the White House.
Justice Department special counsel leading the investigation, Jack Smith, has cast a wide net in interviews, seeking the testimony of a long list of former Trump aides, including ex-White House attorney Pat Cipollone and former adviser Stephen Miller.
Smith is separately investigating Trump over the possible mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, as well as possible attempts to obstruct that investigation.
On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers in that inquiry called the Justice Department’s investigation “seriously botched” and “politically infected.”
They urged the House Intelligence Committee to intervene by holding hearings and introducing legislation to correct procedures for handling classified documents in the White House and standardize procedures for presidents and vice presidents for when they leave their office.
“DOJ should be ordered to step down, and the intelligence community should instead conduct an appropriate investigation and issue a full report to this committee, as well as your counterparts in the Senate,” the lawyers wrote.
It’s unclear when any of the Special Prosecutor’s investigations will end or who, if any, will be charged.
